Shwapno aims to bring 5,000 farmers into sustainable agriculture

Retail chain Shwapno wants to bring 5,000 farmers in Bangladesh into sustainable agriculture by 2030. At the same time, the company has taken initiatives to increase direct sourcing of farm produce from farmers, cut electricity use and expand environment-friendly business operations.

The plans were announced on Sunday at an event in a hotel in Gulshan, Dhaka, where Shwapno unveiled its first 'Sustainability Report 2025'. The information was shared in a statement from Shwapno.

Faruk Sobhan, chairman of the Board of Trustees of the CSR Centre, moderated the report launch event. Among those who took part in the discussion were Arif Dowla, managing director of ACI Group; Sabbir Hasan Nasir, managing director of Shwapno; Yoshida Aya, deputy chief of mission at the Embassy of Japan in Bangladesh; Kenichiro Kawamoto, country chairperson of Mitsui & Co (Asia Pacific); Farzana Chowdhury, chief executive officer of Green Delta Insurance; and Shahamin S Zaman, chief executive officer of the CSR Centre.

Speaking at the event, ACI managing director Arif Dowla said Shwapno is steadily increasing its use of artificial intelligence, or AI, to make its supply chain more efficient. He said this is creating new opportunities to cut carbon emissions, raise productivity and improve people's quality of life.

It was shared at the event that the report covers four years of work, from July 2021 to June 2025. Shwapno said it has already trained more than 2,000 farmers in farming practices.

Of those trained, 150 farmers have received GlobalGAP certification for producing 22 types of crops. The company has now set a target of training more than 3,000 farmers to GlobalGAP standards by 2030 and bringing more than 300 farmers under certification for more than 40 crops.

According to Shwapno's latest information, through more than 142 collection centres the company is now sourcing directly about 60 percent of its vegetables, 53 percent of its fish and 47 percent of its chicken. By cutting steps in the supply chain, the rate of produce spoiling after harvest has come down from about 25 percent to 5 percent.

To reduce food waste, Shwapno has launched an initiative called 'Buy Only What You Need', under which customers can buy fresh farm produce in smaller quantities as needed. Under this initiative, selling watermelon cut to the required amount brought the waste rate for the product down from 5.03 percent to 1.76 percent, a reduction of about 65 percent.

Shwapno said it will extend this initiative to pumpkin, papaya and jackfruit in future. Beyond cutting product waste, the company has taken various initiatives under its sustainable agriculture programme to reduce electricity use and adopt environment-friendly technology.

As a result, electricity use at store level fell by about 27.5 percent in the 2024-25 fiscal year compared with the previous year. Solar power has started being used at several outlets.

The company now has more than 1,000 outlets across all eight divisions and 64 districts of the country. Through these outlets, it serves more than six million customers a month. More than 10,120 people currently work at the company.

Shwapno has set a target of raising women's participation in leadership positions to 30 percent by 2030.